Seidenberg Signs One-year Contract

September 15, 2009|By Steve Gorten Staff Writer

Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia — Cory Stillman saw on a blog about a week before the start of training camp that the Panthers were talking to free-agent defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, his former teammate with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Panthers winger quickly called Seidenberg and asked if it was true. Yes, Seidenberg told him.

"Obviously, I was trying to push him to come to our team to make us better," Stillman said.

He was persuasive. Seidenberg signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract with the team Monday and is expected to join the team Wednesday in Ottawa, Assistant General Manager Randy Sexton said.

Seidenberg will fit into the Panthers' top six, and could play in the top two pairings. The 28-year-old German is coming off the best season of his career, scoring five goals and 30 points in 70 games while averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time. He led the league in blocked shots (39) during the playoffs before Carolina was eliminated in the conference finals.

"The fact that a guy like that was still available was nice and the fact that we got him is great," coach Pete DeBoer said.

Sexton said he feels more comfortable about the team's defense now that he has Seidenberg in addition to Keith Ballard, Bryan McCabe, Bryan Allen, Jordan Leopold and Ville Koistinen. DeBoer said Seidenberg's signing won't affect the chances of young defensemen Keaton Ellerby, Jason Garrison and Dmitry Kulikov to make the roster.